


Papa, Papa!

by I May Age Regress (shnuffeluv)



Series: Gibbs' Family [61]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Age Play, Age Regression/De-Aging, American Sign Language, Elevators, Emotional Baggage, Gen, I should be sleeping, Non-Sexual Age Play, Nonverbal Communication, Short One Shot, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-12-07 03:41:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11615145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shnuffeluv/pseuds/I%20May%20Age%20Regress
Summary: Timmy is learning sign. Gibbs is surprised twice, and elated once.





	Papa, Papa!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bowsandarrows](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bowsandarrows/gifts).



> This one's for bowsandarrows, for giving me this idea and therefore enabling me.

Gibbs wasn't entirely sure what he was expecting in the down-time between cases when Abby called him to her lab, but a six-foot-one five year old excitedly waving to him from inside the ballistics lab was not it. Gibbs waved back and looked around the room. "Abby?" he called.

He got no response. Looking closer, there was no sign that Abby had been in the room for a while. " _Abby!_ "

"Oh! Gibbs!" Abby exclaimed, walking into her back office with a smile, holding at least five different books, two of which looked like primers, one was a For Dummies book, another a dictionary, and then...a journal? "You're here!"

"Abs, what's going on?" Gibbs asked.

Abby grinned and pointed to where Timmy was standing and still waving. "Talk to him, the room's soundproof enough that he can't hear you."

This felt like a game, and Gibbs' patience was rapidly diminishing. "Then how am I supposed to talk to him?" Gibbs asked.

"Gibbs! I expected better from _you_  of all people!" she exclaimed, gesturing to Timmy.

Shooting Abby a look, Gibbs turned to look at Timmy. Once it was clear Timmy had Gibbs' attention, he flapped his hands excitedly, before making a B-sign, touching the side of his index finger to his forehead and extending his arm, before taking the same hand and putting it in the shape the sign five would take, tapping it against his forehead twice and wiggling his fingers. _HI PAPA_.

Gibbs blinked, before signing _HI_ back and looking over at Abby. "You're teaching him sign?"

"Well, he doesn't like talking when he gets really upset, and I asked him why. And he said that it was like his words get stuck in his throat and air won't go past his vocal chords to let him speak, except he can still breathe fine. So he actually goes nonverbal when that happens and he's upset enough! I'm surprised he speaks as much as he does when he gets upset, to be honest, and I was even more surprised that he didn't know ASL as a kid because this would have been really useful for him to know--"

"Abs, take a breath," Gibbs interrupted. "How much does he know?"

"Uh, I taught him to fingerspell and how to count to ten first, and then some basic phrases and family designations. So he speaks about as well as a toddler might, and then he can do PSE for what he doesn't know," Abby said, putting down the books. "These are to help him learn more, and the journal is so he can make a reference of everything he learns in one book for easy access."

"Huh," Gibbs grunted, before turning back to Timmy, deciding to test his knowledge. _ABBY TEACH YOU SIGN?_

Timmy blinked and tilted his head to the side, before repeating _TEACH?_

Gibbs fingerspelled it and Timmy's eyes lit up in recognition before signing back _YES. I NO GOOD._  He laughed, though Gibbs couldn't hear it. _ALPHABET HARD._

_YES I KNOW._ Gibbs signed back, smiling himself. _PAST I LEARN._

Timmy was flapping his hands and rocking back and forth, and Gibbs couldn't help his smile growing at the sight. "This was a great surprise, Abs, thanks."

"I'm not done yet, Gibbs!" Abby exclaimed. "I want to get him to the point where he can have conversations! At least, like, at kindergarten level, because he regresses to five, but hopefully like an adult too! This could really help him during panic attacks, or even stakeouts and stuff!"

"That's good, Abs, but I do need him to at least pretend to be working, so could you let him out now?"

Abby sighed but nodded and opened the door and Timmy ran out excitedly, continuing to sign _PAPA PAPA PAPA!_  Over and over and over.

"Yeah, kiddo? What's up?" Gibbs asked.

Abby looked to Timmy and grinned. "I think he has one more sign for you."

Timmy nodded enthusiastically and bounced on the balls of his feet.

Gibbs arched his eyebrows with an expectant smile. "Yeah? What is it?"

Timmy proudly held up his hand with the middle as ring fingers touching his palm, but the others and his thumb outstretched. _I LOVE YOU._

Gibbs put the back of his hand over his mouth, hiding the grin that formed on his face as his eyes stung. "I love you too, kiddo," he replied, voice thickening.

Timmy flapped his hands and continued to bounce on his feet, grin threatening to break his face in two. Abby looked between them, pleased. "He wanted to learn that one first to tell you," she said. "He refused to learn anything else until I taught him that."

Gibbs thought he might just cry at that. Timmy didn't outwardly voice much of his emotions, although Gibbs always knew those reactions were there, waiting under the surface. The happiness and openness with which Timmy shared this...he took a shaky breath, still smiling. "You ready to go upstairs, kiddo?"

Timmy frowned. "You okay?" he asked softly, ignoring Gibbs' question.

Gibbs chuckled. "Yeah, yeah, I'm okay," he assured. "Don't worry about that. I'm just happy."

"But your...your eyes?" Timmy asked. "You look like you're gonna cry."

"People can cry from happiness, Timmy! I would have thought you knew that!" Abby exclaimed. "Being a writer and all."

Timmy shook his head, but shrugged as if that didn't matter much to him. It probably didn't, considering he now knew Gibbs was fine. Gibbs looked over the books Abby had. "I can take these off your hands and take them home with me so he can practice tonight."

Abby nodded, handing the books over. "If Timmy doesn't have anything else to work on, could he do this? I really really want him to learn soon!"

"We'll see, Abs," Gibbs said. "It all depends if anyone's gonna be breathing down our necks."

"You mean the Director?" Abby asked knowingly.

Timmy giggled. "Jen," he muttered. "Papa calls her Jen when he's not s'posed to."

"Probably not a good idea to share that, kiddo," Gibbs said, though he was smiling all the same.

Timmy just bounced on his toes, looking around and humming something under his breath, though considering it was coming and going in short bursts, he likely was in a good mood with a song stuck in his head.

"Ready to go upstairs?" Gibbs asked.

Timmy focused on Gibbs and whined a little bit. "I...I wanna be little, though."

"I know," Gibbs said. "It's hard to be big sometimes, but you have to during work, if it's at all possible. Tonight you can come over and be as little as you want, but right now you have to be big."

Timmy pouted. "Fiiiine...in five minutes."

Gibbs resisted the urge to laugh at Timmy's negotiations. "Uh, how about now so I don't send you to the gym to spar right after lunch."

"You wouldn't!" Timmy cried indignantly.

"He would," a voice said from the door.

McGee dropped from the balls of his feet to rest his heels on the floor as Director Jennifer Shepard walked into the room. "Something I'm missing?" she asked in a too-innocent voice.

"Abby was teaching me ASL, uh, ma'am," McGee said. "Gibbs came down here to find me, apparently the lesson is second priority right now...to what, I don't know yet."

"Is that what prompted such an animated conversation?" she asked. "I couldn't hear all of it, but you were certainly enjoying yourself."

"I...I enjoy learning new languages, ma'am. It's nice to see that I'm picking things up correctly. I've been talking to Abby, but Gibbs is...sort of next level, if that makes any sense," McGee said.

Jen just looked him over, and Gibbs was suddenly very grateful that everyone saw McGee as the fidgety newbie. Made it easier for him to lie, even when he was nervous. "I hope you do eventually learn it, Agent McGee. However, right now is a time to be working."

"Right. Yes. Sorry," McGee said.

Jen glanced over and caught Gibbs' eye. "I don't want you letting him back down here if it's not work-related," she said. "Although I'm hoping that wasn't a necessary statement."

Gibbs just gave her a bland smile. She sighed and walked out, and Gibbs watched her go before turning back around to find Abby signing animatedly to McGee, and McGee looking very, _very_  lost. "Abs, go gentle with him," he reminded.

Abby sighed. "But that means that he's going to have to learn _slow,_  Gibbs! I want him to be able to sign soon!"

"He's already doing great all things considered, Abs, and I need him to not be overloaded at work," Gibbs pointed out.

"Fine," Abby allowed. "See you later," she said to McGee as she signed it.

McGee blinked before repeating the sign and giving her a smile. Gibbs rolled his eyes and removed one arm from carrying the books as he forcibly dragged McGee out of the lab and to the elevator. "You have to focus for a couple more hours, McGee."

All he got in return was a sigh. And really, Gibbs should have head-slapped him for it, but he oddly understood. If he were in McGee's shoes, he imagined the only thing he'd want to do was relax and learn what he was interested in, rather than sitting at a desk the rest of the day, looking through old murders, and typing the same things into his computer over and over again. A thought struck him. "You _can_  be an adult for a couple more hours, right McGee?"

"Yeah," McGee said, but Gibbs caught the waver in his voice that came with uncertainty.

Gibbs turned off the elevator and Timmy looked like he might jump out of his skin. "A-ah! S-sorry! I can do it!"

"Kiddo, I'm not mad at you," Gibbs said. "I'm making sure we can have this conversation in private."

Timmy didn't look entirely convinced, but he did look somewhat calmer. "S-sorry, I've been trying to be big all day, I promise, it's just been one of--"

"One of your off days, I know," Gibbs finished. "I'm used to them. And they're completely fine. I don't expect you to just do everything you can do with no distractions when you're surrounded by noise and lights and all sorts of stressors. So I can't exactly expect you to be big all the time when something's going on that makes it hard to not be little."

Timmy scratched the back of his neck. "I thought I could be big..." he admitted. "So I didn't call in. Probably should have."

"If you woke up feeling small, then you could have at least let me know so I could be prepared for when you came in," Gibbs pointed out. "It could have helped us avoid this conversation altogether. Although I did enjoy your signing. A lot."

Timmy gave Gibbs a half-smile. "Really?"

"Mhm," Gibbs said, turning the elevator back on. "And if you can make it look like your computer is running a search I'll even let you read at your desk while you wait for the 'results' and no one can question you. Sound good?"

Timmy nodded.

"All right, that's what we're gonna do, then," Gibbs decided.

"Papa?" Timmy asked softly.

Gibbs looked towards him and arched an eyebrow.

"I love you," Timmy whispered, turning away as his face turned red.

Gibbs kissed Timmy's temple right before the doors to the elevator opened. "I love you too, kiddo," he murmured back.


End file.
